Celebration The Modern Tribe

“They say the world has just begun to tame the savage heart of man,” sings Celebration frontwoman Katrina Ford on the latest disc from her Baltimore-based post-punk group. It’s a line that could just as easily refer to the trio’s music–a remarkably ferocious beast on 2004’s self-titled breakthrough, but a moody, almost sophisticated dialogue between force and poise on The Modern Tribe. Reveling in this duplicity (check the unpredictable “Wild Cats” or the dizzying “Pony”), the band smartly plays to the strong suits of the tempestuous Ford, whose voice leaps from coo to caterwaul with grace and frightening force, making for one of the most beautifully urgent and unabashedly raw albums of the year.